Sam Elliott

Sam Elliott
Sam Elliott at the Veterans Day Ceremonies at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, November 2001
Birth name	Samuel Pack Elliott
Born	August 9 1944 (1944-08-09) (age 63) Sacramento, California
Occupation	Actor
Spouse(s)	Katharine Ross (1984-present)

Samuel Pack Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American film and television actor. He is usually recognized by his tall, thin, rough-hewn physique, a thick handlebar moustache and a gruff speaking voice.

Biography

Early life

Elliott was born in Sacramento, California to a physical training instructor mother and a father who worked for the Department of the Interior.^[1] He moved from California to Oregon with his family during his teenage years, where he graduated from David Douglas High School in Portland, Oregon. Elliott is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the California State University, Los Angeles and worked in construction while studying acting in Los Angeles. Elliott lived for a short while in Princeton, West Virginia.

Career

Elliott began his career as a character actor, but his appearance is naturally suited to Westerns. In fact, his debut role in film was a bit part (Card Player #2) in 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. During 1970-71, Elliott starred as Doug Robert in the hit TV series Mission: Impossible and later played a wife killer in the miniseries Murder in Texas (1981) and A Death in California (1986). He has made guest appearances on shows such as Felony Squad, Gunsmoke, Lancer and Hawaii Five-O and has been featured in many TV movies; for instance, he played Wild Bill Hickock in Buffalo Girls (1995). In 1998, Elliot was named the grand marshall of the Calgary Stampede parade and rode in the procession before 300,000 spectators. The young Elliott was often cast for his masculine appeal. In his early movies—The Games, Frogs, Molly and Lawless John—he performed a number of scenes without his shirt. In 1975's Lifeguard, he appeared in much of the movie wearing nothing more than a pair of swim trunks. In 1978's The Legacy, he shed all his clothes for a nude scene. As late as 2003, when he was in his late 50s, Elliott still managed to retain his sex appeal as he stripped to the waist for a scene in Off the Map. Elliott's voice can be heard in as the voiceover narration for commercials from time to time. In the past, he has lent his voice to campaigns for Chevy, IBM, Union Pacific, and, most notably, took over as the voice of the American Beef Council after Robert Mitchum died. In 2007, Toyota hired Elliott to perform voice-overs for the new Toyota Tundra truck commercials, playing on the rich and gravelly delivery of his voice.^[2] In late 2007, Elliot has been heard doing voice-overs for Coors Beer, bringing his deep, rich voice and "western" appeal to the beer brewed in Colorado. Interestingly, the US Army's Officer Professional Development Recommended Reading List includes only two novels: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara and Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer. The one common element in both novels is that Elliott has a starring role in the film adaptations of both, playing a US Army general officer.

Personal life

Elliott has been married to actress Katharine Ross since 1984. Although Ross starred in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in which Elliott had a very small role, the two did not meet and begin dating until 1978 when they both starred with Roger Daltrey in The Legacy. He and Ross had a daughter, Cleo Rose, on September 17, 1984.

Filmography

References

External links

• Sam Elliott at the Internet Movie Database
• A Tribute to Sam Elliott, fansite
• Where have you gone, Grizzly Adams?, a Los Angeles Times article on the Sam Elliott cowboy stereotype